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Jungian Odyssey 2026
“Hope is the thing with feathers” – Imagination in Times of Despair
May 30 – June 6, 2026
Join us for our 19th Jungian Odyssey Conference & Retreat!
“Hope is the thing with feathers” – Imagination in Times of Despair
“[T]he frightening spectacle of an apocalyptic world situation”, as Jung writes (CW 10, §727), taking shape within and around us, can paralyze us with anxiety, even despair (Lat. desperare, “away from hope”). Despair, fear, and hope are all emotions with which we might approach our future. Yet only hope offers consolation, even inspiration, and a glimpse of something “beyond” and yet to be revealed. Traveling the course of hope, navigating the flight which this “thing with feathers” traverses, is at times arduous. In a sermon (of unknown date) exploring the theme of acceptance versus fatalism, Martin Luther King, Jr. captures it in this way: “We must accept finite disappointment but never give up infinite hope.” Tolerating uncertainty allows us to hope, and hope allows us to tolerate what is yet unknown. We can cultivate hope through connecting with our own vast inner world of ancient but living symbols, and conversely it is hope that gives us the space and courage to imagine the transformation that is poised to take place both within and around us.
“Authentic hope requires clarity - seeing the troubles in this world - and imagination, seeing what might lie beyond these situations that are perhaps not inevitable and immutable.”
– Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, 2016
Date & Venue
May 30 – June 6, 2026
Retreat Setting:
Hotel Schweizerhof • Flims, Switzerland
The 4-star Hotel Schweizerhof, registered as a “Swiss Historic Hotel”, offers beautiful panoramic views of parts of the village, meadows and surrounding mountains. All extensions and conversions are in keeping with the Art Nouveau style, so that its character has been preserved both inside and out. In earlier times, the hotel held a ball twice a week, and bridge, tennis and dance instruction. Albert Einstein, Empress Zita and Marie Curie spent their vacations here, and King Albert of Belgium and his wife came incognito. Today, the hotel features a wellness area with indoor natural stone pool with Grander water and garden/forest view, Finnish sauna, organic pine sauna, steam bath, and infrared cabin. The beautiful Lake Cauma (swimming, lakeside restaurant, etc.) is within walking distance. The rooms (13–23 m2 / 140–248 ft2) offer panoramic views of the mountains and/or garden/forest, and are equipped with TV, free Wi-Fi, desk, minibar, hairdryer, bathrobe and safe. Some of the rooms feature a balcony or bay window. For a surcharge, a Junior Suite (south-facing balcony with garden/forest view) or a Panorama Turret Room (panoramic bay window with mountain view and seating nook) are available; both have a size of approx. 30 m2 (323 ft2).
Early registration is recommended, as space is limited and the Odyssey typically books out. Also, early birds receive a price advantage!
Guest Speakers
Daniela Boccassini, PhD
Daniela Boccassini, PhD is Professor of Romance Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her interests focus on Dante studies, medieval and Renaissance literature, Jungian psychology and the relationships between the sacred, myth, spirituality and ecological thought. Among her books: Il volo della mente. Falconeria e sofia nel mondo mediterraneo (The Soaring of the Mind: Falconry and Wisdom in the Mediterranean World, 2003, 2023), Oikosophia: From the intelligence of the heart to ecophilosophy (2018), Via nova: Emergences of the Beyond from Lascaux to Today (2022).
Joseph Cambray, PhD
Joseph Cambray, PhD is past-President-CEO of Pacifica Graduate Institute, past-President of the International Association for Analytical Psychology and has served as the U.S. Editor for the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and is on several editorial boards. He was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry, Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, edited volumes as well as his Fay Lectures, Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe. He lectures and gives workshops internationally. Dr. Cambray is also a Jungian analyst living in the Santa Barbara area of California. Email: [email protected]
Catherine Cox, BA
Catherine Cox, BA is a Jungian Analyst (BJAA (bpf)/WMIP) working in private practice in London. Her early background in theology, pastoral theology (Jesuit-affiliated Heythrop College at the University of London) and ministry (inner city parish and prison chaplaincy) gave way to her career as a lawyer in an international law firm, before the two opposites came together in her vocation as an analyst. Her training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, with its neuroscientifically-informed techniques, opened the door to working with the body, whilst The Red Book nurtured the spiritual dimension. Catherine’s passion for community and her interest in inter-generational trauma (especially what Jung perceived as the “lament of the dead”) are currently reflected in her work with the #With-Ukrainian Jungians project.
With Friends & Faculty of ISAPZURICH
Peter Ammann, Dr. phil.
Maria Anna Bernasconi, lic. phil.
Richard Blennerhassett, MB, FRCPI, FRCPsych
Maria Grazia Calzà, Dr. phil.
Katharina Casanova, lic. phil.
Brigitte Egger, Dr. sc. nat. ETH
Deborah Egger-Biniores, MSW
Ilaria Franchi, Movement Medicine Teacher
Allan Guggenbühl, Dr. phil.
Lisa M. Holland, MS
Scott William Hyder, lic. phil.
Cost & Registration
Odyssey Packages Include
• Group bus Zürich/Flims/Zürich
• Hotel room & full board (excluding two dinners) w/water and coffee at all meals
• Mid-morning and (on some days) afternoon coffee breaks
• Two wine receptions
• Morning meditation
• Seven-day academic program with a film evening, dancing and movement sessions, a fairy tale evening, two afternoon opt-in excursions (partly at cost), and an additional hike
• Flims Guest Card allowing free bus transport in Flims, Laax and Falera
• Exception: Package #3 The academic program is excluded for non-attendee partners (apart from the Saturday lectures and the special events, which they are welcome to attend).
• Exception: Package #4 is a limited 2-day “taster” program (bus travel, hotel overnights, and hotel amenities are not included) offering a small number of places on a “first-come first-served” basis to first-time Odyssey attendees in order for them to become acquaint-ed with the Odyssey and ISAP (please note that current or former ISAP students, staff and faculty are excluded).
Limited Enrollment • Unparalleled Value
Register soon to ensure your place and save on your Odyssey package!
Final Registration Deadline: March 25, 2026
ISAP students are subject to other Terms & Conditions, including other costs and deadlines, provided by the FO.
Registration by March 10 • Prices in CHF
Package #1
1 Attendee, single room • 3300.00
Package #2
2 Attendees, 1 double room, per person • 3150.00
Package #3
1 Attendee & 1 Non-Attendee, double room • Total 4800.00
Package #4
Odyssey Taster May 30 & 31, per person: 400.00
Surcharge for Junior Suite or Panorama Turret Room: 600 CHF
Registration after March 10 • Prices in CHF
Package #1
1 Attendee, single room • 3600.00
Package #2
2 Attendees, 1 double room, per person • 3450.00
Package #3
1 Attendee & 1 Non-Attendee, double room • Total 5200.00
Package #4
Odyssey Taster May 30 & 31, per person: 440.00
Surcharge for Junior Suite or Panorama Turret Room: 670 CHF
Special Events • Odyssey Packages #1, #2, #3
Sunday • The Quiet Girl • By Colm Bairéad
The Quiet Girl is an Oscar-nominated 2022 Irish film, acted entirely in Gaelic, Ireland's ancestral language (with English subtitles). It is an adaption of Claire Keegan's novella Foster and is set in the early 1980's in rural Ireland. Its central character is a little girl, Cait, who is unloved by her family and sent to stay for the summer with distant relatives on a farm in the countryside. Here she is welcomed and the emerging relationships that develop between these three souls are beautifully rendered as the summer unfolds. Its emotional power reminds us all of the child within. (Included also in Package #4)
The film will be discussed from a Jungian perspective as part of Richard Blennerhassett’s combined lecture and seminar on Monday.
Monday • Ilaria Franchi, Movement Medicine Teacher
Dancing as a Pathway of Hope and Creativity
In these Movement Medicine sessions, participants will be guided to awaken their innate resources of vitality and imagination. Through movement and dance, we will bring our embodied attention to the arc of time – acknowledging the pathways behind us, inhabiting the present moment, and opening toward the horizon of the future. In this way, the dance becomes a wellspring of creativity and a living source of hope for ourselves and the wider web of life.
Tuesday • Opt-in Excursion Choices
1. Up to CHF 56.00 • Train Ride through Rhine Gorge and Guided Tour of the Art Museum in Chur
Cost covers round-trip transport and the guided tour. Guided tour: 1 hour. We will leave the hotel at 12:40 and walk to the bus stop (about 3 min.). The bus will bring us to the town of Ilanz, where we will board the panoramic train through the Rhine Gorge (in the local Romansh language: “Ruinaulta”). The gorge, also called the “Little Grand Canyon” of Switzerland, is a significant natural heritage of Switzerland, about 13 km (8 miles) long and up to 400 m (1300 ft) deep. It was formed by the Rhine River eroding its way through the cone of debris left by a massive landslide, which approx. 9,500 years ago buried the entire valley around Flims. We will arrive in Chur, the capital of the Canton of Grisons (“Graubünden”) and walk (5–10 minutes easy and flat walk) to the Art Museum Graubünden, housed in a historic villa and a modern annex building renowned for its architectural design. With a special focus on Expressionism, its collection highlights the history of art in Graubünden over the last 150 years. It presents masterpieces such as paintings and sculptures by famous Swiss and international artists including Angelika Kauffmann, the Giacometti family, Andreas Walser, Alois Carigiet, Lenz Klotz, Matias Spescha, Not Vital, HR Giger, or Zilla Leutenegger. It also features artists who are linked to Graubünden, like Giovanni Segantini, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Varlin, Roman Signer, Heiner Kielholz, Richard Long, or Miriam Cahn. Our guided tour in the museum begins at 14:30. After that, you are free to further explore the museum (open until 17:00), stroll around the small and beautiful historic town center of Chur with the Cathedral (built in 1150–1272) and the Baroque-era Bishop’s Palace, go to a café, and/or have dinner (self-paid) in a restaurant of your choice in Chur. Having been a settlement for over 5,500 years, Chur is said to be the oldest town of Switzerland. It is also the seat of the earliest bishopric north of the Alps. We will return to Flims by bus, leaving Chur at 20:28 and arriving back at our hotel at approx. 21:15.
2. No Cost • Hike Falera to Flims
Hike: easy to medium level, approx. 3 hours. Wear hiking boots or sturdy walking shoes. No sandals or street shoes!
We will leave the hotel at 12:25 and walk to the bus stop (approx. 3 min.). A short bus ride will bring us to the village of Falera at an elevation of 1220 m (4,000 ft). The 8.3 km (5.2 mile) hike from Falera back to our hotel takes approx. 3 hours. Rated as easy to medium level, this hike contains an ascent of approx. 160 meters (525 feet) and a descent of approx. 270 m (885 ft). The path initially leads through alpine meadows teeming with wildflowers and perhaps some grazing cows, and past traditional wooden sheds, offering panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, the Rhine Gorge and the small lake near the village of Laax. After traversing Laax, the final part of our path leads through the beautiful mountain forest. On the way, we will enjoy a picnic from our lunch boxes. We will arrive back at the hotel at approx. 17:00. If you’d like, you can add a detour to Lake Cauma (“Caumasee”) at the end of the hike. Have dinner (self-paid) at a restaurant of your choice in Flims. Optional: Add a walk on the treetop path (see below), which we pass on our way, and return to the hotel on your own.
Other Options (on your own)
Wednesday • Ilaria Franchi, Movement Medicine Teacher
Dancing as a Pathway of Hope and Creativity (See Monday)
Thursday • No Cost • Hike to the Viewing Platform “Il Spir”
Hike: medium level, approx. 3 hours. Wear hiking boots or sturdy walking shoes. No sandals or street shoes!
We will leave the hotel at 16:15 and walk approx. 1:15 h (3.3 km / 1.9 mi, ascent of 60 m / 200 ft, descent of 120 m / 400 ft) through the beautiful mountain forest and via the mountain lake “Caumasee” to the Viewing Platform “Il Spir”, from where there is a spectacular view of the Rhine Gorge. The Rhine Gorge or “Ruinaulta” is a canyon carved by the river Anterior Rhine and is characterized by white cliffs, forested slopes, quiet lakes, and varied habitats supporting a diversity of plant and bird life. The gorge cuts through deposits of the prehistoric Flims rockslide, in which an estimated 8–9 cubic kilometres (1.9–2.2 cu mi) of rock collapsed from the Flimserstein and neighboring peaks around 9,500 years ago. The rockslide debris blocked the river, creating a lake, which lasted for several centuries before gradually draining as the Anterior Rhine cut through the material. The present-day gorge features a meandering river with alternating gravel and sandbanks, rapids, and river terraces, bordered by cliffs rising to heights of up to 350 m (1,150 ft). Our return path follows a slightly different route through the forest (approx. 1.5 hours, 3.8 km / 2.4 mi, ascent of 170 m / 560 ft, descent of 40 m / 130 ft). We will arrive back at the hotel at approx. 19:15.
Thursday • Maria Anna Bernasconi • Finding Hope in Old Folktales
Folktales from the Alps show us alternative routes for avoiding floods. They offer various strategies or they reveal Who really causes them. Some corresponding folktales are discussed from a Jungian perspective: Material in the shadow will be revalued. In this way we discover unexpected treasures and we contribute to the re-enchantment of the world. Folktales teach us that animism also existed in our regions and to acknowledge this worldview as a chance to develop a new way: to love nature around us and then act accordingly.
Friday • No Cost • Guided Tour of the Megalithic “Parc La Mutta” with Kathrin Schaeppi
Guided Tour: approx. 1 hour involving a 1 km (0.6 mile) walk. Wear sturdy walking shoes. No sandals or street shoes!
Step back in time and uncover one of Switzerland’s hidden treasures: the fascinating Bronze Age megalithic site of La Mutta (approx. 1500–1200 BCE), once home to an ancient settlement and a sun-worshipping cult. With its deep-rooted history and strong Rhaeto-Romanic heritage, this area offers a rare glimpse into life long before Roman times.
Join Kathrin Schaeppi on a guided hike around La Mutta’s scenic hilltop and explore its mysterious stone alignments, stone etchings, and a calendar stone, believed to hold astronomical, mathematical, and ritualistic secrets. The site features 36 impressive menhirs (upright standing stones), cup-marked rocks, and other naturally sculpted formations. Highlights include a six-stone alignment marking the sunrise 30 days before and after the summer solstice and “the moon arrow”, pointing to an ancient eclipse. Here a bronze disc-headed needle, believed to encode celestial cycles, was discovered.
First group, with guided tour and additional hike: Departure from hotel at 14:25. After the guided tour, easy to medium-level 1-hour hike to Laax-Demvitg (3 km / 1.9 mile; ascent 50 m / 160 ft, descent 260 m / 850 ft). Return by bus. Arrival at hotel at 17:45.
Second group, with guided tour only: Departure from hotel at 15:25. The guided tour involves an up- and downhill hike of approx. 1 km (0.6 mile). Instead of the hike, there is also the option to stay in the lower part of the park. Return by bus. Arrival at hotel at 17:30.
Friday • Gala Closing
After our reflections on the week and the guided tour of Parc La Mutta or an afternoon rest, get ready for our traditional gala closing. A wine reception will get us started, and we will proceed to a celebratory 4-course dinner.
Special Events Photo Credits Top to Bottom
• https://mubi.com/de/de/films/the-quiet-girl
• Rhine Gorge (JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Bündner Kunstmuseum (© Ralph Feiner, from https://kunstmuseum.gr.ch/de/info/presse/Seiten/start.aspx)
• Path Falera-Laax (© Susanna Bucher)
• Rhine Gorge (© Susanna Bucher)
• Parc La Mutta (© Susanna Bucher)
Program
Saturday, May 30
11:30–15:00
Arrival, Apéro, Lunch, Hotel Check-in
15:15–15:45
Welcome & Introduction
Maria Grazia Calzà, Dr. phil. & Lisa M. Holland, MS
Academic Co-Chairs, Jungian Odyssey
15:45–17:00
Joseph Cambray, PhD
Accessing the Creative Imagination in the Face of Despair (Lecture)
The paralyzing experience of despair on individuals and groups will be discussed initially. Collective despair has an episodic history, arising around times initiated by catastrophes, either natural or human, usually with a deadening effect on the creative imagination and soul. Study of Jung’s personal experiences which led to his Red Book offers an approach towards recovery. We will reconsider his original “waking dreams” or reveries that precipitated his inner journey. A reassessment of the value of reveries linked to disruptions in psychic life provides a pathway towards genuine hope.
17:00–17:15
Coffee Break
17:15–18:30
Daniela Boccassini, PhD
At the Roots of Jung’s Myth: Grail Matters (Lecture)
Jung held no doubt that Western civilization had failed in addressing the issue of evil: the myth of the hero and its underpinnings – the separative confrontation of the opposites, up to and including the splitting of the atom – is heading the world to destruction. A different myth is needed to constellate a pathway to healing through the union of the opposites. Jung recognized in Parsifal and his transmutative return to the Grail castle the myth apt to court the possibility not just of avoiding the catastrophe of the Waste Land, but of giving birth to a re-greening of the soul and the world.
18:30–19:45
Dinner
It is ... true that much of the evil in the world
comes from the fact that man in general is hopelessly
unconscious, as it is also true that with increasing insight we can
combat this evil at its source in ourselves, in the same way
that science enables us to deal effectively with injuries
inflicted rom without.
C.G. Jung, CW 10, §166
Confidentiality is to be strictly observed for all experiential workshops, for our temenos and for seminars that deal with personal and/or case material.
Experiential workshops entail self-exploration and sharing aspects of one’s personal life. Therefore, for the protection of personal boundaries, attendance is excluded for analysts of ISAPZURICH and any others who might anticipate encountering or do encounter analysands, patients, and/or supervisees at these events.
Sunday, May 31
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Maria Grazia Calzà
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
9:00–10:15
Catherine Cox, BA
Radical Hope as a Way of Life (Lecture)
I did not know this poem by Dickinson when it appeared the morning after a dream about a bird with a wing beyond repair. Desperate, the bird flipped itself into a jar. Hopeless, I thought. The dream came after the death of my husband. Some months later, after a journey from desert to the Arctic, I walked into SFMOMA and there was Anselm Kiefer’s huge painting of a bird wing. The wing, I saw, was made of lead. Hope took me yet deeper – from my Austrian war history to the war zone in Ukraine.
In this lecture I will consider how we may give space to hope’s radical transformation.
10:15–10:45
Coffee Break | Book Sales
10:45–12:00
Allan Guggenbühl, PhD
Imagination – A Curse or a Blessing? (Lecture)
In my lecture I will give a review of the impact and meaning of imagination in our lives and discuss its role in therapy and education. My core message is that imagination exerts a great power over us, motivates us to achieve goals, but at the same time endangers us. In Jungian analysis we try to include imagination, without drifting off and forgetting our lives.
12:15–13:15
Lunch
CHOICE
14:00–16:00
Joseph Cambray, PhD
Reveries: An Often-Unacknowledged Doorway into
Recovery (Seminar on Lecture)
The paralyzing experience of despair on individuals and groups will be discussed initially. Collective despair has an episodic history, arising around times initiated by catastrophes, either natural or human, usually with a deadening effect on the creative imagination and soul. Study of Jung’s personal experiences which led to his Red Book offers an approach towards recovery. We will reconsider his original “waking dreams” or reveries that precipitated his inner journey. A reassessment of the value of reveries linked to disruptions in psychic life provides a pathway towards genuine hope.
14:00–16:00
Daniela Boccassini, PhD
Like Water in Fish: What Happens When We Come to Live the Myth that Lives Us? (Answer: We Learn to “Wander in Hope”) (Seminar on Lecture)
Why do we need to tend hope? In a Parsifal-like manner Jung devoted his life to tending the kind of hope that can beget greening in the here and now. To establish a dialogical relationship between Jung’s views of coniunctio and some of today’s challenges we will reflect on the principles of reciprocity and interdependence, as foundational to the ecosystems of the breathing planet we inhabit. Humanity’s pathway to healing demands that, in a Parsifal-like manner, we come to see and embrace the enveloping and transformative, grail-like, more-than-human “quintessence” we unknowingly partake of.
14:00–16:00
Catherine Cox, BA
"I’ll Meet You in the Body of Hope” (Hermit Brother Rafe to Contemporary Mystic Cynthia Bourgeault Just Before He Died) (Seminar on Lecture)
“But let your hope, which is your highest good and highest ability, lead the way and serve you as a guide in the world of darkness, since it is of like substance with the forms of that world.” (C.G. Jung, The Red Book)
“Hope is not something subjective … It is a light force which radiates objectively and which directs creative evolution toward the world's future. It is the celestial and spiritual counterpart of terrestrial and natural instincts of biological reproduction.” (Valentin Tomberg)
What is non-subjective hope? How do we enter it? What holds us back? This seminar will have an experiential element.
14:00–16:00
Scott William Hyder, lic. phil.
& Heike Weis Hyder, Dr. med.
Humility and Forgiveness in Relation to Hope (Lecture & Seminar)
Each of us will present case material from our respective practices that highlights the themes of humility and forgiveness in relation to hope, with time for participant questions, comments, personal associations and group discussion.
17:00–18:00
Temenos
For the early Greeks a temenos was an area set apart from everyday life, a holy precinct or sacred ground. Following Jung’s metaphorical use of the image, for all who wish to join, our temenos offers a protected space for the sharing of personal experience, insights, and questions related to this Jungian Odyssey. Facilitated by Grazia Calzà and Lisa Holland, and contained in mutual respect and confidentiality, this is an open exchange that can deepen our spirit of community. Offered also on Wednesday.
18:30–19:45
Dinner
20:00–21:00
The Quiet Girl • A Film by Colm Bairéad (see Special Events above)
• A must-see for attendees of Richard Blennerhassett’s combined lecture and seminar (Mon, June 1)
Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism.
It is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
In short, I think that the deepest and most important form of hope,
the only one that can keep us above water and urge us to good works,
and the only true source of the breathtaking dimension of the human spirit and its efforts,
is something we get, as it were, from “elsewhere.”
It is also this hope, above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things,
even in conditions that seems hopeless as ours do, here and now.
Vaclav Havel, Disturbing the Peace, 1986
Monday, June 1
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Ilaria Franchi
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
9:00–10:15
Penelope Yungblut, MA
Cultivating Hope through Imagination (Lecture)
We will explore imagination as a creative resource for discovering and holding onto hope in the darkness of uncertainty and distress. We will examine how imagination facilitates our capacity to wait, endure longing, develop resilience, and foster discernment in the service of awakening new life. We will look to archetypal stories to guide us.
10:15–10:45
Coffee Break | Book Sales
10:45–12:00
Murray Stein, PhD
Visions of Hope in Changing Times – The Book of Revelation, The Red Book and More (Lecture)
A lecture about understanding the stages of cultural transformation with an eye to light at the end of the tunnel.
12:15–13:15
Lunch
CHOICE
14:00–16:00
Penelope Yungblut, MA
Listening to Our Soul (Seminar on Lecture)
We will seek insight and movement in our individuation journeys using journaling and active imagination to the burning questions: What is the Self asking of me? What is the next step I need to take to respond to that which lies deepest within?
14:00–16:00
Bernard Sartorius, lic. theol.
Hope: A Necessary Illusion? (Lecture – 60 min.)
A sobering reflection on some examples of archetypal motivation and dreams.
14:00–16:00
Elia Khalaf, PhD
The Surrealist Artist as Architect of Hope (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
Artists who embody marginalized queer identities have historically been at the frontline of resistance to fascism. This lecture traces the lineage of surreal art as a form of resistance, exploring how artists have subverted oppressive structures.
A generative art-making workshop guides participants in practicing radical hope to transcend societal constraints on sexuality, gender, the body, and identity. Exemplary artists and hands-on exercises demonstrate how surrealist techniques of accessing unconscious material can unlock hope beyond authoritarian constraints.
14:00–16:00
Richard Blennerhassett, MB, FRCPI, FRCPsych
The Quiet Girl: A Lost Child's Discovery of Hope and Love (Lecture & Seminar)
W.B. Yeats in his poem To a Child Dancing in the Wind contrasts the carefree joy of childhood with the inevitability of life's hardships. If only this were so! The profound wounds that so many children experience during childhood, be it through misaligned attachment or abuse, even if deeply buried, so often reemerge during adulthood. This lecture and seminar will explore the motif of the wounded child as depicted in The Quiet Girl and consider sources of healing that reopen the doorway to our soul.
17:00–18:00
Ursula Ulmer, MA
ISAPZURICH Council • An Information Meeting:
Continuing Education & Training at ISAPZURICH
18:30–19:45
Dinner
20:00–21:45
Ilaria Franchi, Movement Medicine Teacher
Dancing as a Pathway of Hope and Creativity
In these Movement Medicine sessions, participants will be guided to awaken their innate resources of vitality and imagination. Through movement and dance, we will bring our embodied attention to the arc of time – acknowledging the pathways behind us, inhabiting the present moment, and opening toward the horizon of the future. In this way, the dance becomes a wellspring of creativity and a living source of hope for ourselves and the wider web of life.
When we suffer, we long for it to end.
When we are in pain, time crawls. It also darkens and imprisons our imagination;
consequently, we are unable to see beyond the suffering that plagues us.
Often the greatest gift in such a situation is when someone manages to persuade the eyes of the heart
to glimpse the vaguest brightening. Then the imagination takes hope from that,
and constructs a path of light out of the darkness.
Such endings offer great promise and bring us to the edge of new possibility.
They are nascent beginnings.
John O’Donohue, Benedictus: A Book of Blessings, 2007
Tuesday, June 2
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Susanna Bucher
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
9:00–10:15
Brigitte Egger, Dr. sc. nat. ETH
The Challenge of Hope as a Loving Faith in Life (Lecture)
What is the essence of hope? Why are hope, faith and love theological virtues in Christianity? And what does the poet Dante say about them in the Paradise of his Divine Comedy? Is hope a road to the transcendent, to meaning, to transformation? Is it linked to our task in life, to the subtle body? Does a symbolic attitude help? Does biology offer inspiration or confirmation to hope? And then, how can we cultivate hope and outwit despair?
10:15–10:45
Coffee Break | Book Sales
10:45–12:00
Judith Savage, DPsy
The Nature of the Thing with Feathers (Lecture)
Emily Dickinson (1861) wrote “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul” promising the light of hope.
Max Porter's (2015) bird poem was of a crow with “the rich smell of decay” and who’s mournful song shrieked “Grief is the thing with feathers.”
Porter’s cranky crow watches over two young boys who have lost their mother and their father who has lost his moorings. Cawing, squawking, forcing his cruel carnivorous beak into their broken lives, the Crow declares “I won’t leave until you don’t need me anymore.” What does Porter’s poem tell us about “the thing with feathers”?
12:00
All: Pick-up Your Box Lunch
(whether you join an excursion, or not)
CHOICE • Excursions
Option #1 • Train Ride through Rhine Gorge and Guided Tour of the Art Museum Chur (see Special Events)
• Advance sign-up required
• Bus schedule subject to change
12:35
Gather at the hotel main entrance to depart for the bus stop (3 min. walk)
12:51
Bus & train through Rhine Gorge to Chur Guided Tour of the Art Museum Chur (1 hour)
Afterwards free time in Chur on your own
Dinner on your own self-paid) in Chur
20:28
Bus back to Flims
Arrival at hotel approx. 21:15
Option #2 • Hike Falera to Flims (see Special Events)
• Bus schedule subject to change
12:20
Gather at the hotel main entrance to depart for the bus stop (3 min. walk)
12:36
12:36 Depart Bus to Falera
Hike Falera-Flims: easy to medium level, approx. 3 hours
Picnic en route
Return to hotel approx. 17:00
Dinner on your own (self-paid) at a restaurant in Flims
Dinner on Your Own (self-paid)
Ask at hotel reception about restaurants in Flims, have dinner in Chur (if attending excursion #1) or reserve a table at the hotel
Wednesday, June 3
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Ilaria Franchi
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
Experiential Workshops • A Day of Immersion
• Morning coffee break: time to be announced
• Lunch 12:15–13:15
CHOICE
9:00–16:00
Lena Måndotter, Singer/Song-Therapist
Letters to a Young Singer – A Film about Soul and Song and Psyche and Sound (Lecture)
The film is about the deep connection between song and soul and psyche and sound. It is a singer’s journey in search of healing through dreams and myths in the archetypal worlds. It is set in the atmospheric Cretan mountains in Greece where Jungian analyst, singer and song-therapist Lena Måndotter lived for many years. The film is dedicated to the Greek mythological musician and shaman Orpheus who also inspired her new book, The Song of the Soul - the Transpersonal Dimension of Psyche and Sound (Chiron Publications). The main theme is that song can be medicine for body and soul.
The Song of the Soul – a Voyage into the Imaginal Realm of Psyche and Sound (Experiential Workshop)
This is a journey into the artistic, therapeutic and transpersonal dimension of song and soul. No previous experience with singing is required. We will playfully explore psyche’s landscape through creative vocal expression of sound, symbol, breath and movement. While releasing and reclaiming our own authentic voices, we deepen our knowledge of the psychological aspects of sound. We learn how to embody devoted attention and presence, and how to listen from a deeper place. To prepare for this workshop it might be inspiring to read Lena Måndotter’s book The Song of the Soul (see above).
9:00–16:00
Katharina Casanova, lic. phil. &
Ilsabe von Uslar, lic. phil.
Dream of the Waking – Searching for Symbols of Hope (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
In a general introductory part we will focus on the phenomenon of hope, delving into stories about hope prevailing in difficult times. With a guided imagination we will open the way for our own images to emerge and come to life as we work creatively with paint, clay and other artistic materials.
Art supplies will be provided – but feel free to also bring your own.
9:00–16:00
Deborah Egger-Biniores, MSW
When Suffering Ushers in Hope: A Healing Perspective on Relationships in Analysis and Life (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
An opportunity to explore the plight of inevitable suffering in human relationships and the important role this suffering has in soul-enhancing life and love.
9:00–16:00
Katarzyna Wach, Mgr. Psych., Soc. Psych
Vulva Energy (Lecture) (only for women)
Revolution does not arrive gently. It comes as a rolling force – unstoppable, transformative – demanding surrender. Nothing remains the same: what was familiar dissolves, and a new order emerges. In this lecture, we will imagine revolution through the body of a woman, as both an inner and outer event that reshapes existence and opens the way to new being.
Healing through Work with the Pelvic Floor: Center of a Woman’s Revolution (Experiential Workshop) (only for women)
The pelvic floor is a Sacred center of a woman’s body—a second heart, a portal to divine creativity and resilience. In this workshop, we will return to this center, the place where radical change begins. Through embodied exploration, we will discover how it equips us for transformation, expansion into greater compassion, and the courage to live from the truth of the body.
Working with the pelvic floor can be a deeply intense and transformative experience. If you have a history of trauma, please ensure that you have adequate therapeutic support in place so that you can safely process any material that may become activated during the workshop.
17:00–18:00
Temenos with Grazia Calzà & Lisa Holland
18:30–19:45
Dinner
20:00–21:45
Ilaria Franchi, Movement Medicine Teacher
Dancing as a Pathway of Hope and Creativity
In these Movement Medicine sessions, participants will be guided to awaken their innate resources of vitality and imagination. Through movement and dance, we will bring our embodied attention to the arc of time – acknowledging the pathways behind us, inhabiting the present moment, and opening toward the horizon of the future. In this way, the dance becomes a wellspring of creativity and a living source of hope for ourselves and the wider web of life.
But let your hope,
which is your highest good and highest ability,
lead the way and serve you as a guide in the world of darkness,
since it is of like substance with the forms of that world.
C.G Jung, The Red Book, 2009
Thursday, June 4
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Isolde Kunerth
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
Experiential Workshops • A Day of Immersion
• Morning coffee break: time to be announced
• Lunch 12:15–13:15
CHOICE
The following courses are repetitions of those given on Wednesday (except Nancy van den Berg Cook)
9:00–16:00
Lena Måndotter, Singer/Song-Therapist
Letters to a Young Singer – A Film about Soul and Song and Psyche and Sound (Lecture)
The film is about the deep connection between song and soul and psyche and sound. It is a singer’s journey in search of healing through dreams and myths in the archetypal worlds. It is set in the atmospheric Cretan mountains in Greece where Jungian analyst, singer and song-therapist Lena Måndotter lived for many years. The film is dedicated to the Greek mythological musician and shaman Orpheus who also inspired her new book, The Song of the Soul - the Transpersonal Dimension of Psyche and Sound (Chiron Publications). The main theme is that song can be medicine for body and soul.
The Song of the Soul – a Voyage into the Imaginal Realm of Psyche and Sound (Experiential Workshop)
This is a journey into the artistic, therapeutic and transpersonal dimension of song and soul. No previous experience with singing is required. We will playfully explore psyche’s landscape through creative vocal expression of sound, symbol, breath and movement. While releasing and reclaiming our own authentic voices, we deepen our knowledge of the psychological aspects of sound. We learn how to embody devoted attention and presence, and how to listen from a deeper place. To prepare for this workshop it might be inspiring to read Lena Måndotter’s book The Song of the Soul (see above).
9:00–16:00
Katharina Casanova, lic. phil. &
Ilsabe von Uslar, lic. phil.
Dream of the Waking – Searching for Symbols of Hope (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
In a general introductory part we will focus on the phenomenon of hope, delving into stories about hope prevailing in difficult times. With a guided imagination we will open the way for our own images to emerge and come to life as we work creatively with paint, clay and other artistic materials.
Art supplies will be provided – but feel free to also bring your own.
9:00–16:00
Deborah Egger-Biniores, MSW
When Suffering Ushers in Hope: A Healing Perspective on Relationships in Analysis and Life (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
An opportunity to explore the plight of inevitable suffering in human relationships and the important role this suffering has in soul-enhancing life and love.
9:00–16:00
Nancy van den Berg Cook, PhD, PsyD
Our Creative Imagination that “Begets a New Star:”* Where Artificial Intelligence Can Never Go (Lecture & Experiential Workshop)
At the core of all of Jung’s discoveries is his insight that our spontaneous imagination – in all its forms, including dreams – is the primary healing ‘machine’ in our psyche. Psychological healing and transformation are driven by the organic Self function, and the tool it uses is our imagination.
Will AI replace what humans create? No! AI can never replicate what we make because the creative unconscious and what it makes actually promote psychological growth and healing.
We will learn how imagination works in healing and also experience how our own imagination weaves and synthesizes new ways of being.
* Quote: Paracelsus
16:15
Hike to the Viewing Platform “Il Spir” (see Special Events)
Return approx. 19:15
17:00–18:00
ISAP Candidate Research
ISAP candidates will briefly present their current research in Analytical Psychology with time for questions and discussion.
Dinner on Your Own (self-paid)
Ask at hotel reception about restaurants in Flims or reserve a table at the hotel.
20:30–21:45
Maria Anna Bernasconi, lic. phil.
Finding Hope in Old Folktales
(see Special Events)
Hope refers
to the openness of the future;
as a response to the openness of the future
it is an alternative to anxiety.
If we are to overcome our anxiety
in the face of the future,
we must depend in the end on hope.
Verena Kast, Joy, Inspiration, and Hope, 1991
Friday, June 5
7:15–7:45
Meditation with Ilsabe von Uslar
7:30–9:00
Breakfast
9:00–10:15
Kathrin Schaeppi, MS, MFA
Archetype of Hope: The Sun and Stars Will Return Again. Ancient Wisdom of the Megalithic Park La Mutta, Falera (Lecture)
Across time, humans have sought meaning in forces beyond their control. The Bronze Age site at Parc La Mutta, aligned with the sun and stars, reveals humanity’s archetypal bond with the cosmos. These stones embody collective aspirations for renewal, fertility, and transcendence, reflecting patterns deeply rooted in the collective unconscious. Exploring their secrets invites us to rediscover ancient wisdom that still speaks to our modern search for balance and connection.
10:15–10:45
Coffee Break | Book Sales
10:45–12:00
Peter Ammann, Dr. phil.
The Mountain that turned into a Cathedral: Religious Dreams of an Unbeliever (Lecture)
This lecture tells the story of an unbeliever whose dreams turned religious. Harald Pager (1923–1985), born in German Sudetenland, served during WW II as a tank soldier in the German army invading Russia. After the war he became a graphic designer and in 1955 emigrated to his “land of hope,” South Africa, where he dedicated his life to document the rock art of the Bushpeople, testimony of their “imagination.” This enormous work of documentation he considered “the great task of his life.” But the “imagination” of his dreams tells us another story: his “real task” points to a religious quest.
12:00–12:15
Break
12:15–13:00
Grazia Calzà & Lisa Holland
Reflections on the Week (Seminar)
13:00–14:00
Lunch
14:20–17:30
Special Offer • Guided Tour of the Megalithic “Parc La Mutta” with Kathrin Schaeppi (See Special Events)
Group with Hike
14:20 Gather at the hotel main entrance. Return approx. 17:45
Group without Hike
15:20 Gather at the hotel main entrance. Return approx. 17:30
18:30–24:00
Gala Closing
18:30–19:00 • Apéro
19:00–24:00 • Gala Dinner
Saturday, June 6
7:00–8:00
Hotel Check-Out & Breakfast
8:00
Bus Check-in
8:30
Bus Departs for Zürich
10:45
Approximate Drop-Off at Zürich Airport, Departures
11:15
Approximate Arrival at the Zürich Bus Station
Travel Information
Your Stay in Zürich
For your connecting overnights in Zurich – and/or for your stay during the Prelude – we suggest the hotels below. All are centrally located, within walking distance of the main train station and bus station, and close to public transportation. All serve breakfast and have free wireless LAN. For other convenient options, click here.
Fred Hotel Zurich Hauptbahnhof ***
Limmatstrasse 5, 8005 Zurich, directly opposite the bus station
Hotel Montana ***
Konradstrasse 39, 8005 Zurich
Hotel Bristol ***
Stampfenbachstrasse 34, 8006 Zurich
Hotel Arlette **
Stampfenbachstrasse 26, 8001 Zurich
Hotel Limmathof **
Limmatquai 142, 8001 Zurich
Group Travel Information
Saturday, May 30 • Bus • Zürich to Flims
The Zürich Bus Station (CarPark Ausstellungsstrasse)
• Car/Taxi Entry: Ausstellungsstrasse 15, 8005 Zürich
• Pedestrian Entry: Opposite Starbucks and Fred Hotel on Limmatstrasse 5, 8005 Zürich
• 8:45 check-in & luggage loading. Look for a white bus marked “Kopf”, or find us in or near the covered seating area.
• 9:15 AM departure
The photo shows the pedestrian entry to the bus station, opposite Starbucks and Fred Hotel. It is but a short walk from the Zürich Main Station and Hotel Montana. The same entry can be reached on tram #17, #50, or #51. Get out at Sihlquai/HB; walk approx. 3 minutes.
Prelude • May 26–29, 2026
Consider coming early to Zürich, to attend the ISAP Prelude on your way to the Odyssey! This is a chance to experience our on-campus life and historically protected home, the erstwhile post office built in 1911, with an Art Nouveau design. At this occasion you are welcome to:
• Attend the 3-day academic program with a package discount for registered JO attendees
• Join our spring semester excursion C.G. Jung – The Basel Years: A Walking Tour; at cost
• Celebrate with us! Semester closing with music, wine, and generous appetizers (Apéro riche)—no cost
• Attend analysis or supervision
- Costs and payment methods vary according to the analyst.
- To arrange appointments, consult our List of Analysts. Or write to: [email protected]
- Kindly make appointments with the Counseling Service and individual analysts well ahead of your arrival.
Attendance of the Prelude requires separate registration and payment directly with ISAP.
Registered JO attendees receive a discount code to register for the entire package of Prelude lectures.
For program details & registration, please use the button below or write to: [email protected]
Jungian Odyssey Committee
[email protected] • Fax +41 (0)43 268 5619
Academic Co-chairs
Maria Grazia Calzà, Dr. phil.
Lisa Holland, MS
Co-Chairs
Susanna Bucher, Dr. sc. nat. ETH
Isolde Kunerth, Dipl.-Päd.
Past Jungian Odysseys Photo Albums
Downloads
| File Name | Type | Permissions | Changed Date | Date | Size | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pdf |
Jungian Odyssey 2026 Brochure | 0644 | 2025122104484221-Dec-2025 04:48 | 2025120508400005-Dec-2025 08:40 | 12 MB | Preview | Download | ||
pdf |
Jungian Odyssey 2026 Flyer | 0644 | 2025121112201611-Dec-2025 12:20 | 2025120508361205-Dec-2025 08:36 | 1 MB | Preview | Download | ||
pdf |
Jungian Odyssey 2026 General Terms and Conditions | 0644 | 2025120511195305-Dec-2025 11:19 | 2025120508192905-Dec-2025 08:19 | 168 KB | Preview | Download | ||
pdf |
Jungian Odyssey Prelude 2026 Flyer | 0644 | 2025121112184311-Dec-2025 12:18 | 2025120508200005-Dec-2025 08:20 | 47 KB | Preview | Download |
Combined size: 13 MB
It is in the nature of political bodies always to see the evil in the opposite group, just as the individual has an ineradicable tendency to get rid of everything he does not know and does not want to know about himself by foisting it off on somebody else.
Find Us
From 14 Dec 2025: Tram 17, 50 or 51 to Beckenhof
Ab 14. Dez 2025: Tram 17, 50 oder 51 nach Beckenhof